Across the Eastern Cape, boys and girls run onto rugby fields in their school shoes or a pair of tekkies. Lincoln Mali, founder of the Mzwandile Mali Schools Rugby Champions League, tells BizNews how a visit by businessman Paul Gardiner to Kwanobuhle township led to Boots for Boys and Girls, a campaign to give pre-loved rugby boots to players who don’t have the right kit. The first collection box was placed at St Andrew’s College in Makhanda, and Mali hopes the drive will spread to other schools beyond the Eastern Cape. His league, which grew out of a tournament he started to honour his father to bring rugby to township schools, now includes 133 schools and is growing to 150 next year. Mali says his main aim is not only to produce rugby players. He wants them to stay at school, get good grades and have families of their own, because rugby gave him “great friendships, a lot of structure, a lot of discipline.”– Linda van Tilburg

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Edited transcript of the interview

Linda van Tilburg (00:00)
There are boys and girls who love to play rugby, but many run onto the field wearing just their school shoes or a pair of tackies because they don’t have the proper kit. So, there’s no shortage of talent, only a shortage of the right kit. It was this observation that inspired Boots for Boys and Girls, an initiative that collects pre-loved rugby boots and gives them a second life. Joining us to tell us more is Lincoln Mali, founder of the Mzwandile Mali Schools Rugby Champions League. Hi Lincoln, thanks so much for joining us.

Lincoln Mali (00:07)
Thank you for having me. It’s such a pleasure to have a chat with you.

Linda van Tilburg (00:27)
Are the kids keen to play rugby, both boys and girls?

Lincoln Mali (00:48)
It’s amazing. I started this journey twelve years ago to honour my father, Mzwandile Mali, and started a rugby tournament in township schools. I started with eight schools. That tournament has grown to 60 schools this year. But I felt that was not enough. I wanted them to have a league that they played throughout the season. An amazing group of South Africans, both here and abroad, offered their support and we started a league, and that league now has 133 schools from across the Eastern Cape.

One of the people who got interested in this was Paul Gardner, a South African who had spent a lot of time abroad. He came back to the country and said, “Guys, I want to help you with the league, but I want to go and see for myself, because I’ve got a business that borders Kwanobuhle township.” Paul came with his entire family and business colleagues and they saw the rugby. They loved what they saw. But Paul’s biggest observation was that the kids didn’t have the right equipment. They didn’t have the right shoes to play the game. He said, “Lincoln, what can I do?” I said, “Look, Paul, whatever anybody can do to help, these kids will play. Whatever they’ve got, they’ll play with.”

A couple of weeks later Paul called me and said, “Lincoln, I’ve got it. I’m going to start this initiative, and I’m going to start it with my old school, St Andrew’s College in Grahamstown, or Makhanda. We’re going to ask kids in established schools to give their much-loved rugby boots to boys and girls who don’t have them.” That was the beginning of this programme. It’s been amazing how the kids have responded. They saw the need and wanted to give to other kids who want to play the game like they do.

Linda van Tilburg (02:57)
So how big is it now? How many boots do you collect?

Lincoln Mali (03:01)
We started with the first team at St Andrew’s and they’ve challenged other schools. Paul has heard from other schools who want to be part of this movement. I was on a programme with SuperSport Schools where I spoke about this, and other schools have also indicated their need.

At the same time, I have a wonderful colleague who runs a Greater Chi tournament, which has some very strong girls’ schools taking part. I’ve linked him with Paul, so those girls’ schools will be beneficiaries too, because our league is mainly a boys’ league. Those two initiatives will be beneficiaries of the rugby boots that come from established schools.

Linda van Tilburg (04:04)
Have businesses come on board to support you?

Lincoln Mali (04:07)
Not yet. Paul does a lot of magic. He has set me up to speak to a number of businesspeople about the league and about the initiative to give equipment that schools don’t use, or any other help they can give. If you think about it, when you have about three thousand boys playing in a league full time, they’re away from drugs, they’re away from crime, they’re away from all negative influences. And when girls play the game, they can see opportunities to play for South Africa, because the Eastern Cape produces many young women who play for the national team.

So, we’re quite keen to engage with businesses that want to involve themselves practically with schools in townships and villages and see something that is already working and is backed by reputable businesspeople like Paul.

Linda van Tilburg (05:13)
Of course you’ve got a fantastic role model that they see, which is Siya Kolisi, the captain of the Springboks.

Lincoln Mali (05:19)
Indeed. One of the most fascinating things for me when we launched the league in Kwanobuhle was to play a video. The crowd couldn’t see the video, but they could hear the audio, and when they recognised Siya’s voice, you couldn’t describe how the young people felt, having such an icon who comes from those townships and has made it in rugby for the Springboks. He’s a back-to-back world champion. Then you’ve got people who came from those townships and won the Junior World Cup. There’s a lot of inspiration for young people when they see people from those environments who have made it in rugby, or someone like Mzwandile Stick, the assistant coach to Coach Rassie with the Springboks, who comes from those environments.

Linda van Tilburg (06:24)
So that’s boots, but what about mouth guards? Rugby is a rough sport.

Lincoln Mali (06:29)
Absolutely. Everything that anybody can imagine is needed on a rugby field. Mouth guards, pole pads that protect the kids, unused scrum machines that are no longer in use. All this equipment doesn’t exist at the moment for many of these boys and girls. I think sometimes people are not sure whether it would be okay to donate such things. I say to them that I played rugby when I was young and I used other people’s boots as well. There was no shame in using shoes or boots that were owned by somebody else. The gesture comes out of love and care, and that’s how you see the game growing.

And I think the game is going to grow. In our tournament we are moving from the 60 schools I mentioned to 72 schools next year. The league is going to move from 133 schools to 150 schools. So, the demand is huge, and the passion and enthusiasm are huge. Because we’ve had people like SuperSport Schools partnering with us for the last three years, people have seen these kids play and they’ve seen the talent that’s there. Standard Bank has been our partner for the last 12 years. So reputable brands have seen the benefit and we’re quite keen to have more partners join us and give whatever support they can. People like Siya and other Springboks have sent messages of support, from Willie to Makazole Mapimpi and all of these guys, saying, “We support you, keep playing.”

Linda van Tilburg (08:32)
Kids grow out of things. I’ve had children myself. Before there’s anything wrong with the shoe, you go to the next size. So, for kids it’s a no-brainer.

Lincoln Mali (08:42)
Absolutely. My boy abandoned the family sports, rugby and cricket, and went into basketball. Those basketball shoes are so expensive and I’m thinking they’re still in good nick, but he says no, he’d like to give them to somebody else who is less fortunate. Through that he ended up getting a part scholarship to play basketball in the US. So, the idea of kids giving to other kids gives them satisfaction, but also a sense of caring for others.

But you’re right. What kids want next season is not what they used in the previous season, and those boots can be used by kids who are more in need. There’s so much joy in seeing it. It’s such a South African thing to give to others, and that’s why I’m so glad to have someone like Paul as a partner, who saw something like this and went to St Andrew’s. When the boys at St Andrew’s were walking up and putting their boots in the box that Paul so lovingly created, there was so much pride. There was a sense of humility and joy in giving. So, I think the challenge they’ve put out to other schools will be met with a good response.

Linda van Tilburg (10:15)
Do you see this growing beyond the Eastern Cape?

Lincoln Mali (10:18)
I certainly think it will. It’s just about looking beyond what you see. Paul knew Kwanobuhle because his business borders it, but he had never seen the kids play. When he saw them, he saw the talent straight away. I can imagine that a school like Grey in Bloemfontein might see what is happening just outside their gates. In Paarl, they have Paarl Gymnasium and Paarl Boys, and they might see what’s happening around the wine farms with young players in those communities. I think it can grow in the way South Africans give to one another. So that when we celebrate the Springboks playing the finals next year, we have other kids who are also celebrating that they had a good year, and that they had a good pair of boots as well.

I think even at universities, you’d be surprised. At universities like Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu, the students come from those communities, but they don’t have the equipment. It just grows the sport and gives Rassie the right headache of having more and more players to choose from as the game grows.

Linda van Tilburg (11:47)
Lincoln, you told us a little about your league but tell us more about yourself and why you’re interested in rugby.

Lincoln Mali (11:55)
I come from a very strong rugby family. Rugby in my township, KwaZakele in the Eastern Cape, dates back more than 140 years. My dad’s own club was formed in 1894, and the first union was formed in 1887, so it’s got a big milestone next year. My dad’s club was the Orientals. I grew up learning about the game from my father. He played, his father played, so there’s a generation of people who played in townships and villages. I played at high school and a bit at university.

But I started to see rugby dying in the township and village schools where it was born. We were starting to see the growth of the game with the Springboks and Siya, but it was still dying there. So, I wanted to start a rugby tournament in my father’s honour, to see these kids away from the streets, showcasing their talent. Some of those kids are now playing at university; some are now playing at Graham’s College. We were also able to take a team to the UK, where we were invited by Sevenoaks Rugby Football Club. Kids who had never left their own townships could get on a plane and play in the UK, and they played amazing rugby.

Out of that we were invited to the Northwood tournament, which features some of the best rugby schools. We’ve been going there for the last two years, and we’ve been invited again for a third year. We’ve been invited to St Stithians for two years and we’re going back again. We’ve been invited to the Grey PE tournament for two years and we’re going again. Now Grey PE has invited us to another tournament in December, where a school from Scotland, Strathallan, is coming, and they’ve invited our team.

At the end of the tournament, we pick the best players and call them the Mzwandile Mali 15, named after my father. They wear the same kit that my father’s team wore back in 1894. That’s been the history. These kids have shown the talent they have, and some of them have made provincial teams, for Border and for EP under 18 and under 21. So, it’s about developing these young guys.

But for me, the biggest thing is not for them to be Springboks or to play for provincial teams. I want them to be very good young people. I want them to stay at school, go to university or college, get good grades and have their own families, because that’s what rugby gave me. Great friendships, a lot of structure, a lot of discipline. Those things are important to me. In many ways I see myself as a role model to young people, showing that somebody like me who grew up in a township can become CEO of a Nasdaq-listed company. And that’s how I plough back, by doing things like running this tournament and this league.

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By James Politi

Democrats are still toasting the midterm results, but the US political class is already setting its sights on the next electoral battle: the 2028 race for the White House.

With President Donald Trump constitutionally barred from a third term in office, both major parties will be seeking a candidate for the presidency.

Some of the most successful White House campaigns launched soon after the midterms. Trump’s winning 2024 bid was launched in November 2022 from Mar-a-Lago, and Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign began in February 2007.

This means that candidates will, in the coming weeks, start sounding out donors, visiting primary states and getting advice from pollsters and strategists about their viability.

For Democrats the race is very much an open field. The party will hope its sensational midterms performance banishes memories of the disastrous 2024 campaign when president Joe Biden withdrew from the race only four months before election day.

On the Republican side, the question for presidential hopefuls will be whether to distance themselves from Trump after the disastrous midterms — or stick with him, betting that a possible endorsement could deliver them the nomination.

Republicans

JD Vance

The pollsters’ favourite to succeed Trump. The vice-president, 42, comes from Maga’s populist non-interventionist faction, which attracts younger conservatives, and he has the backing of prominent tech investors among a wealth of other donors.

But for primary voters, he risks being tainted by the administration’s decision to go to war with Iran and its failure to reduce inflation. On the morning after the midterms, he directly laid the blame for the defeat on the war. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so,” he wrote in a post on X.

Vance can be an awkward campaigner; a stilted exchange with doughnut shop employees became a viral moment in the 2024 election. He will certainly be aware of the dismal record of sitting vice-presidents convincing voters to give them the top job. Only one, George HW Bush, has managed it in the past 190 years.

However, Vance will still have a natural edge going into 2028 in terms of fundraising and name recognition that will be hard to overcome for any rivals.

Marco Rubio

The most likely — and most popular — alternative to Vance. Rubio has certainly endeared himself to the Maga base through his loyalty to Trump, but is still seen as closer to traditional Republican values than the vice-president, which would make him more appealing to older conservative voters and establishment donors.

Trump derided Rubio repeatedly as “little Marco” on the 2016 campaign trail when they were rivals. But he has come to rely on him heavily during his second term, tapping him to be secretary of state and national security adviser — and putting him at the heart of all his biggest foreign policy decisions.

Like Vance, his role in an unpopular administration could weigh against his bid. But Rubio would have the advantage of being able to step down from his job to prepare his candidacy.

Donald Trump Jr

If Trump decides he wants to keep the Maga sceptre within the family, his eldest son might be the most likely heir.

The 48-year-old has mainly been travelling the world pursuing financial opportunities during his father’s second term, but he spent more time than his other siblings on the 2024 campaign trail, and has cultivated plenty of potential donors with his myriad business interests. Recent opinion polls show him running a close third to Rubio.

But while Don Jr wouldn’t have any trouble with name recognition, he doesn’t have his father’s raw political charisma. And though Americans have been drawn to dynastic power in the past — including the Bushes and the Kennedys — a continuation of Trumpism from within the family might be a tough sell to voters who seem to be tiring of Trump.

Ron DeSantis

The Florida governor was the great hope of anti-Trump Republicans during the early stages of the 2024 primaries.

With his second term in office about to end, he is seen as a potential dark horse contender if Republican voters decide it is time to turn their backs on Trump and the Maga movement and revert to traditional conservatism. On the eve of the midterms, he criticised the Trump administration in a radio interview for not doing enough to tackle political corruption.

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But DeSantis was unable to translate his popularity and success in Florida into broader national appeal two years ago, a limit that would threaten to dog him in 2028 as well.

Ted Cruz

The Texas senator is frequently mentioned by Trump as a possible Supreme Court nominee if another vacancy opens during his second term. But otherwise, the 55-year-old could attempt to mount another White House run after failing to beat Trump in 2016, then declining to challenge him in 2024.

Unlike Rubio, Cruz has kept some distance from Trump so might find it easier to be critical of the administration if the president’s approval ratings continue to plummet in 2027. But he is not as close to the younger generation of Republican voters bred during the Maga years as Vance is, which could make it harder for him to break out.

Other Republicans:

Pete Hegseth: The defence secretary has told friends he is considering a 2028 run. But his controversial record in office could limit his chances.

Robert F Kennedy Jr: The health and human services secretary rules the “Maha” faction of the Republican base. Vance has the higher profile, though.

Democrats

Gavin Newsom

The outgoing California governor presented himself as Trump’s chief Democratic antagonist during the first year of his second term, trolling the president with social media posts and attacking him at every turn.

He has made little secret of his ambitions and may well be among the first out of the gate in terms of positioning himself for the presidency after the midterms. In an interview with late-night comedy host Jimmy Kimmel last week, Newsom forecast the “blue tsunami” that ended up sweeping across the country.

But the 59-year-old has failed to emerge as the clear frontrunner for 2028 in recent months, perhaps a sign that Democrats are looking for a candidate who transcends the image of a coastal liberal that hurt Kamala Harris in 2024.

Jon Ossoff

One of the Democratic Party’s most effective politicians during this year’s midterms, the Georgia senator comfortably cruised to re-election in a battleground state.

He gave Obama-style speeches on the stump, railing against Trump’s enrichment while in office, his failure to tame inflation and the blunders of the Iran war. He mixed it up with viral takedowns of the president — including a jab at Natalie Harp, his close aide, that rankled the White House.

Despite Ossoff’s insistence that he has “zero interest” in a White House run, he is currently the Democratic favourite with bookmakers to win in 2028.

Kamala Harris

Despite her loss to Trump two years ago, polls show that the former vice-president still has substantial support within the party.

Her bid for the White House in 2024 was hampered by being only hastily cobbled together following Biden’s decision to pull out of the race.

But she would risk running into many of the same problems that dogged her then: stances on both economic and foreign policy that failed to resonate with voters, and her struggle to defend Biden’s record. Her 2020 campaign also fizzled out before the primaries even began.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

“AOC” has been a rising star on the left ever since she won a seat in the House of Representatives in 2018 and could succeed Bernie Sanders as the Democratic Party’s progressive standard bearer in the primaries.

The New York native has clearly signalled she has broader national ambitions, campaigning aggressively for progressive candidates including Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, and somewhat moderating some of her positions to broaden her appeal.

Read more:

But she has time on her side. At 37, she is six years younger than John F Kennedy was when he became the youngest elected president in US history. An alternative option for Ocasio-Cortez might be to run for a Senate seat in New York — if Chuck Schumer, the 75-year-old party leader in the upper chamber, can be persuaded to vacate it in 2028.

Josh Shapiro

One of the most popular Democratic governors in the country easily secured re-election in the vital swing state of Pennsylvania this week.

If he decides to make a run for the White House, Shapiro would represent the moderate, centrist wing of the Democratic Party and likely clash with progressives both on economic policy and regulatory issues as well as foreign policy, where he is known for his pro-Israel views.

Other Democrats:

Rahm Emanuel: The former Chicago mayor and Obama chief of staff is on a publicity blitz to pave the way for a possible 2028 run.

Pete Buttigieg: Since serving as Biden’s transportation secretary, “Mayor Pete” has become a prominent Democratic campaigner.

© 2026 The Financial Times Ltd.

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From The Economist, published under licence. The original article can be found on www.economist.com

© 2025 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved.

The Economist

Strip out politics and artificial intelligence from a discussion of markets and you would be left with a short conversation. Or, on November 5th, none at all. After a bouncy post-election trading session the day before, investors seemed to have concluded that America’s midterm election “blue-nami” was bad for AI. Given that the tech investment boom has helped propel the American economy in the past couple of years, and in a market where AI drives nearly all the ups and downs, this conclusion has sent stocks tumbling across the board. The benchmark S&P 500 index shed 4%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ index lost more than 5%.

Investors are right to worry. In Texas, the destination for around a third of the new capacity planned for America over the next two years or so, the Democratic governor-elect, Gina Hinojosa, has endorsed an extended moratorium on approving new construction until lawmakers can work out how to wring concessions from tech firms. She will have allies in the state capitol, where the Democratic Party wrested control of the lower house for the first time in more than two decades. Democrats also took the governorship in Georgia and Ohio, two other states for which AI builders had big plans, and kept it in a third, Pennsylvania.

The biggest losers were the dearest of the AI darlings: CoreWeave and other “neoclouds”, which operate data centres on behalf of clients; AMD, Micron, Nvidia and other chipmakers, which furnish the silicon; the chipmakers’ suppliers, such as Applied Materials; and power companies such as Bloom Energy, which provide the electricity. Investment banks underwriting the listings of frontier AI labs, most imminently Anthropic, and private-markets giants that help finance the buildout also took a beating. Morgan Stanley gave up 6% of its value. Apollo lost more than 4%. And you really don’t want to be Elon Musk, who has hitched his car, rocket and AI ventures’ fate to Texas—and to the Republican Party.

Yet not all AI stocks got clobbered. The share prices of the four tech “hyperscalers”—Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft—have given up some of their post-midterms gains but remain roughly where they were before markets closed on election day (see chart). A slowdown in data-centre construction may, after all, reward firms which already have lots of them (and which may now spend less of their cashflows on building new ones, preserving margins). Software firms such as Salesforce and Workday, which are big users of AI, also outperformed the market, though both declined.

This divergence points to a big change in the “AI trade”. It is no longer homogeneous, notes Adam Parker of Trivariate Research, a research firm. Trivariate looked at eight baskets of AI-related stocks, from hyperscalers to utilities and data-centre real-estate investment trusts. It found that the data-centre hardware firms, makers of chips and their suppliers still move together. But over the past several months several other AI-linked groups have sold off alongside semiconductor firms less often.

Many investors are nevertheless seeking to put distance between themselves and AI stocks. Some loaded up on “defensive” shares that tend to outperform in slumping markets; the share price of Costco, a bulk-buyers’ paradise, rose by nearly 2%. Others picked up Treasuries; in the two days after the election yields on ten-year bonds (which move inversely to prices) fell by 0.13 percentage points, to their lowest level since before a debt-panic in early September.

Why did the markets take an extra day to freak out? After all, the epic scale of the Democrats’ triumph was evident before trading began in the post-election morning. Perhaps investors were hoping that Donald Trump would take a hint from voters and not reignite his war with Iran, or simply felt relief that the result was too big for the election-denier-in-chief to contest, averting a potential constitutional crisis. A lot of it almost certainly had to do with big hedge funds unwinding their pre-election positions.

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Stock-market bulls are undeterred, arguing that the market panic does not herald a full repricing of the AI revolution. The S&P 500 is at the level it was in July, barely 6% off its record high last month and still up by 16% since a recent low in March. “Do I think we go down 60% because Gina Hinojosa is the governor of Texas? No,” says Marko Papic of BCA Research, an investment firm. Investors nursing a post-election bruising may find that to be cold comfort.

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